Last Updated: Monday, 02 November 2009 09:28
Published Date
Written by WarpSpeed

Welcome to the “Crysis Monthly Update #18", the monthly report for our world-wide community. In this last month at Crytek, MyCrysis and Crymod, we've had an exciting time as the community has been as busy ever creating content for the Crysis franchise, as well as official releases and events from Crytek. This update includes a selection of some of the amazing work we've seen, showing just how creative our community is when it comes to Crysis modding. This month we also had two Inside Crytek interviews, the CryENGINE3 developer release, a brand new Review of the Week competition, and the Crysis Live event in the UK. Read on for further information!

Content: Crysis Monthly Update – September 2009

CryENGINE3 Developer Release

CryEngine 3 Licensees Update

Crysis Live

Community Corner featuring the 'Best of Crymod'

Review of the Week

Inside Crytek - Erik Staub and Brittany Leverette

Related Links:
- Forumbeitrag @ Crysis-HQ.com
- Ganze News @ Crysis-HQ.com CryEngine 3 Developer Release
October saw the release of the CryEngine 3 for developer use. This marked a big event for games developers everywhere, no more so than here at Crytek as it is the same engine that will be used by Crysis 2. See below for full details including some videos of CryEngine 3 in action.

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Since GDC Europe, we here at Crytek have spent time polishing up CryENGINE3 to release standard, and today we're ready to release the engine to developers! To mark this event we've got a brand new tech demo to show you as well as a new website launch showing off all the features of CryENGINE3. Read below to check out the press release as well as the brand new MyCryENGINE website!

Press Release

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Frankfurt a. M. (Germany), October 14th 2009 - Crytek GmbH (“Crytek”) is excited to announce that their latest all-in-one development solution CryENGINE 3 is now available for all developers. CryENGINE 3 is the first game development platform for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, MMO, DX9/DX10 that also is truly Next-Gen-Ready - with scalable computation and graphics for all major upcoming platforms. It provides the complete game engine to create AAA quality next generation games, and includes the redesigned CryENGINE 3 Sandbox™ level editor, a production-proven, 3rd generation “What you see is what you play” (WYSIWYP) - tool designed by and for professional developers.

CryENGINE 3 also introduces CryENGINE 3 Live Create™. It allows developers to work with a single editor, but see and play the results in real-time on PC, PS3 and Xbox360, hooked up to a single dev PC. The engine takes care of the conversion and optimization of assets in real-time; enables instant, cross-platform changes to any part of game creation and as a result materially increases the speed, quality and significantly reduces the risk of multiplatform development.

“With CryENGINE 3 we are releasing the best development solution available today and tomorrow. With its scalable graphics and computation it is next-gen ready and with new features like CryENGINE 3 Live Create the best choice for game developers and companies developing serious games applications alike. It is the only game engine solution that enables real-time development and can ensure teams are able to maximise their own creativity, save budget and create greater gaming experiences.” said Cevat Yerli, CEO & President of Crytek.

“We’re delighted to launch CryENGINE 3 and we look forward to seeing what developers achieve with our all-new technology. CryENGINE 3 isn’t just about providing our trademark highest-quality graphics and our out of the box AI and physics for the first time on consoles – it also delivers real benefits to all disciplines in games development. Programmers will create awesome new effects and gameplay; art, design and audio teams can play as they create with the fastest, entirely real-time WYSIWYP pipeline ever, materially reducing development time and risk – even producers, project managers and suits will love CryENGINE 3! Of course, our international team of more than 20 dedicated support staff are available right now to help our licensees make the most of CryENGINE 3; at their studio or at one of our support centres around the world.” added Carl Jones, Director of Business Development CryENGINE.

CryENGINE® is the underlying technology for Crytek’s critically acclaimed games Far Cry, Crysis, Crysis Warhead and NC Soft’s recently released MMORPG blockbuster AION. It has already been licensed to a number of major game companies around the globe, including several recent serious games training and simulation projects. CryENGINE®3 is the underlying technology for the highly anticipated Crysis®2.

About Crytek GmbH
Crytek GmbH ("Crytek") is one of the world’s leading independent development studios for interactive entertainment with its headquarters in Frankfurt am Main (Germany) and additional studios in Kiev (Ukraine), Budapest (Hungary), Sofia (Bulgaria), Seoul (South Korea) and Nottingham (UK). Crytek is dedicated to creating exceptionally high quality video games for the PC and next-generation consoles, powered by their proprietary cutting edge 3D-Game-Technology CryENGINE®. Since its foundation in 1999, Crytek created the multi-award winning PC titles Far Cry®, Crysis®, awarded best PC Game of E3 2007 and Best Technology at the 2008 Game Developers Choice Awards and Crysis Warhead®, awarded Best Graphics Technology at IGN Best of 2008 Awards.

Crytek, Crysis, Crysis Warhead and CryENGINE are registered trademarks or trademarks of Crytek GmbH in the USA, Germany and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

New Website
As well as the official launch, we have a brand new website to mark its release and provide you and developers with all you need to know about the engine. Including a gallery, tech specs and more, this website will be the home of all future news and information on the CryENGINE technology. Visit it at MyCryENGINE.com!

Tech Demo
As well as the release, new information and website, we've also got a brand new tech demo showcasing more features of CryENGINE3. We'll be providing a high quality download soon, in the meantime, check out the flash version below!

HD Trailer
That's all for today's news post. To discuss what you've seen or to find out more information, check out the related links below!

CryEngine 3 Licensees
Not long after the announcement of CryEngine 3 being available to developers, we are very pleased to announce our first official licensee to be acclaimed developer, OnNet.

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Welcome to an official Crytek news post regarding the recent license acquirement of CryENGINE3 by acclaimed developer OnNet. Below you can read the official press release from Crytek regarding the license!

Official Press Release:

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Frankfurt a. M. (Germany) / Seoul (South-Korea), October 29th 2009 - OnNet Co. Ltd. and Crytek GmbH (“Crytek”) announced today that ‘Project TGO’ will be developed with CryENGINE® 3, the latest game engine from Crytek. Hence, CEO Sungju Hong (OnNet Co. Ltd.) and CEO Youngmok Park (Crytek Korea Ltd.) exchanged the contract for the license of CryENGINE® 3 at the Crytek office and agreed their full cooperation for the project.

In the past, OnNet Co. Ltd. developed and published the critically acclaimed Golf-MMOG ‘Shot online’. In line with the development of their latest project, Jaesun Kim, the director of OnNet, stated: “Our next online golf game ’Project TGO’ is based on the experience and the knowledge from ‘Shot online’. With the help of the newest CryENGINE® 3 technology we will deliver the most realistic physics with natural background and highly detailed graphics within our game. In order to reach the best results within the game we are focusing on a very strong cooperation between Crytek and OnNet.”

OnNet plans to start its service in 2010 but has not released any concept or special features yet so that they sparked the curiosity within the industry. OnNet USA will be in charge of the Producing and Business Development for ‘Project TGO’ while the game and graphics development will be led by their offices in Korea and China with some of the original developers of ‘Shot online’. With this new international organization OnNet is targeting a global market.

Youngmok Park, Managing Director of Crytek Korea Ltd. declared: “CryENGINE 3 is undoubtedly the best choice for ‘Project TGO’. Our latest all-in-one game development solution allows the team to develop more content in less time and primarily at less risk. I am convinced that OnNet’s latest project will look even better and more realistic than its former games. Our cooperation will lift golf games to a whole new level and make them even more attractive to the gamers. We’re really looking forward to the result.”

CryENGINE 3 is the first game development platform for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, MMO, DX9/DX10 that also is truly Next-Gen-Ready - with scalable computation and graphics for all major upcoming platforms. It provides the complete game engine to create AAA quality next generation games, and includes the redesigned CryENGINE 3 Sandbox™ level editor, a production-proven, 3rd generation “What you see is what you play” (WYSIWYP) - tool designed by and for professional developers.

CryENGINE® is the underlying technology for Crytek’s critically acclaimed games Crysis and Crysis Warhead and has already been licensed to a number of major game companies around the globe, including several recent serious games training and simulation projects. CryENGINE®3 is the underlying technology for the highly anticipated Crysis®2.

About Crytek GmbH
Crytek GmbH ("Crytek") is one of the world’s leading independent development studios for interactive entertainment with its headquarters in Frankfurt am Main (Germany) and additional studios in Kiev (Ukraine), Budapest (Hungary), Sofia (Bulgaria), Seoul (South Korea) and Nottingham (UK). Crytek is dedicated to creating exceptionally high quality video games for the PC and next-generation consoles, powered by their proprietary cutting edge 3D-Game-Technology CryENGINE®. Since its foundation in 1999, Crytek created the multi-award winning PC titles Far Cry®, Crysis®, awarded best PC Game of E3 2007 and Best Technology at the 2008 Game Developers Choice Awards and Crysis Warhead®, awarded Best Graphics Technology at IGN Best of 2008 Awards. Crytek, Crysis, Crysis Warhead and CryENGINE are registered trademarks or trademarks of Crytek GmbH in the USA, Germany and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

To read more Crytek news and check out the latest updates from the company, remember to visit Crytek.com!

GameCity and Crytek UK Present: Crysis Live!
Crytek UK teams up with GameCity to present a unique event. Read on for more information.

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Crytek UK and GameCity are proud to announce an extraordinary and totally unique collaboration for GameCity Squared, 2009’s iteration of the World’s best loved videogame festival. Not content with allowing players to sample gameplay through the safety of a monitor, for two full days, the entire Festival arena in the Market Square will be transformed into a live, full-scale recreation of the Crysis universe – and you can play it for real! Read below to find out more information on the event.

Crysis - Live!
Below you can read about the event organisation as well as some of the background information about the event.

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Crysis: LIVE! pitches each player inside a real-life tropical jungle, complete with exotic flora and fauna, where they’ll need to use the famous ‘Nanosuit’ to avoid deadly enemy soldiers and reach their top secret objective. Crysis : LIVE! Is the only real-life game available that enables players to BECOME INVISIBLE.

“This is a terrifying departure from previous events for the festival, we’re really excited to be able to collaborate with Crytek UK on making this amazing project happen”, says GameCity Director, Iain Simons. The game is created, designed and directed by Rob Yescombe – Crytek UK’s Narrative Designer. “A lot of games are extensions of childhood classics”, says Yescombe. “Crysis: LIVE! is like Hide and Seek for the 21st Century – good old fashioned fun but with a Crytek UK twist. I don’t want to spoil too much. You really need to play it”.

Yescombe - who also created last year’s legendary Resident Evil: LIVE! - is delighted to be hosting the game in Nottingham. “The folks here really embrace the sentiments of GameCity – which is taking games out of the bedroom, and getting everyone involved; meeting each other, sharing experiences and exchanging stories. It warms the ******les of my heart. I love it.” Crytek UK are also delighted to announce their further sponsor support of the festival, further increasing their investment in the Cultural reputation of the city.

Karl Hilton, MD of Crytek UK commented, “Crytek is really happy to be a sponsor for Gamecity squared. Nottingham has been the cradle of many successful software companies over the years and Gamecity recognises and contributes to the formidable reputation of the city as a centre of technical excellence in the games industry. Crytek is proud to be part of Nottingham and is looking forward to contributing towards making Gamecity a great success.” Crysis : LIVE! Runs at GameCity Squared from 29-30 October. GameCity Squared happens all over Nottingham from 27-31 October, 2009.

About Crytek GmbH
Crytek GmbH ("Crytek") is one of the world’s leading independent development studios for interactive entertainment with its headquarters in Frankfurt am Main (Germany) and additional studios in Kiev (Ukraine), Budapest (Hungary), Sofia (Bulgaria), Seoul (South Korea) and Nottingham (UK). Crytek is dedicated to creating exceptionally high quality video games for the PC and next-generation consoles, powered by their proprietary cutting edge 3D-Game-Technology CryENGINE®.

Since its foundation in 1999, Crytek created the multi-award winning PC titles Far Cry®, Crysis®, awarded best PC Game of E3 2007 and Best Technology at the 2008 Game Developers Choice Awards and Crysis Warhead®, awarded Best Graphics Technology at IGN Best of 2008 Awards. Crytek and Crysis are registered trademarks or trademarks of Crytek GmbH in the USA, Germany and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

If you'd like to comment on or discuss the event, then head over to the forum thread on Crymod here.

Community Corner
This month, the Crymod Weekly Roundup continued to surprise the Crytek staff and community, highlighting some of the best work from the community each week. In this CMU, we're going to focus on some of the most impressive work from these roundups. We also introduced a tutorial of the week feature to reward community additions to the ever growing CryWiki.

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Delapidated Industrial Building
This week we're also showing you a great asset update from forum member themodman101, who has been working on more dilapidated buildings. This time he's been creating an industrial model set, screenshots of which you can see below.

MechWarrior: Living Legends - September 2009 Update
This week we're also showing you a great mod update from the MechWarrior: Living Legends mod. Sean Tracy and the team have been hard at work polishing up the mod for an imminent release, and some of their best latest work is displayed below.

Not so long ago, we announced the return of the Tutorial of the Week feature. For those who missed the initial announcement, the new system works by having the best tutorial produced in the given week selected by the CryWiki Staff Team, and then this will be recorded on a special CryWiki page located here. Prizes can be won if you manage to get enough tutorials featured as the Tutorial of the Week, including Crysis merchandise and a custom forum title. Today we'll be taking a look at the first winner of the new feature; read on for more.

This Week's Winner
Bringing the community an excellent tutorial on using solids as physicalised objects, Metroid756! The tutorial covers setting up the solid and the process of making that model ready for acting as a physicalised entity capable of responding to the world around it. To view the full tutorial on CryWiki, simply click the thumbnail below.

The next announcement will be made on the 25th of October, giving you a week to write any tutorials you may be working on. Congratulations to today's winner, and good luck to all the future tutorial writers!

Review of the Week
This month we also kicked off our review of the week feature, where you guys get a chance to win some cool Crysis merchandise by submitting a review to a specific level, asset or mod. Since we introduced the feature we had some great entrants; shown below is the results of this month's latest contest.

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Introduction
The first ever winner of Review of the Week is announced, prizes are distributed, a change to the format and a new name for the event all takes place this week!

There was a high amount of interest in Review of the Week from both MyCrysis and CryMod community members but also a general consensus that one week was not enough time for a complete review. For this reason, we will be extending the review period from one week to two weeks for all future events. In addition, we are renaming the competition to a rather more accurate; 'The MyCryMod Review'.

So starting today, Monday 26th October you will have two weeks to get your entries in for your chance to win some exclusive Crytek merchandise! All submissions must be made before Monday 9th November. Remember, you are free to submit this review in any format you wish so try to make it creative, constructive and interesting for everyone, good luck to all participants!

The Review
This time around the featured download is from Cry-[HP], released back in June 2008 for the Intel Crysis Mapping Contest, it is a single player level called Vulcano.

Once you have played through the level and are ready to write/submit your review you can do so by following this guide;

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To submit your review you will need to post in our review forum. Each review will have it's own thread where others can read and comment, at the end of each week we will archive the old reviews so they will still be available, and make space for the new ones.

Level design
When I first started playing the map, I had mixed feelings. First of all, I liked the intro ZapWizard logo, and the first custscene presentation. So, the first impression was quite good. Unfortunately, that feeling was not there for long. For example, the level design is nothing special, it has a lot of empty areas, bad textures and the whole level feels un-inspired, with repetive tree placement and a few areas could use some smoothing. Later on, the time of day changes, and you can see some improvements. I should also say that he made a very good job with the voxel editing, since the caves look very good.

Additional Information
Make sure to submit your reviews on time to be in with a chance of winning some Crytek merchandise. If you miss the deadline then your review will not be eligible for winning that week. If you have any questions regarding this event you can either comment on this post or PM a staff member, under no circumstances should you post your queries in the review forum.

Good luck to all participants!

- MyCrysis Team

Inside Crytek
As well as formulating review of the weeks, we've had some quality interviews from Eric Staub, a producer on Crysis 2, and Brittany Leverette, a talent co-ordinator here at Crytek. You can check out their interviews below!

Today sees another addition to our "Inside Crytek" series. This is a series of Q&A's with different members of the Crytek team, where they answer questions on all sorts of topics. These are not just ordinary interviews though. Once their intro has been posted you get the opportunity to ask them your questions!

This time we are speaking with Erik.

What do you do at Crytek?

I’m a Producer working on Crysis 2.

Why did you want to work in the games industry and how did you get started and do you have any tips for people wanting to get started in the industry?

After 20 years of TV and Advertising it seemed like the best industry to go to, since the gaming industry is still young and inventive and still driven by innovation.

What ever it is you like to do, try to become the best at it, and then apply at CRYTEK!

Why Crytek?
Why go for second best, if the best are located in your home town?

What are the best and worst parts of your job?
The best part is working with this Team, the worst part is politics that don’t have anything to do with the quality of the games we make.

What are you working on at the minute?
Marketing and merchandising plan.

What types of games do you like, and what's your favorite game of all time?
I love third and first person shooters, MGS on PS1 is the best game of all times for me, followed by Crysis.

What do you enjoy doing when you're not at work?
Spending time with my family and cooking.

It's up to you!
Now we've asked the questions, it's time for you to ask yours. Just go to this thread and post the questions you'd like to ask. Take advantage of the role the person does, and make sure to ask the right questions. Funny ones are always good, but nothing obscene. We'll pick out the best questions from the bunch and have the communities Q&A up once they're answered.
Related Links:Ask YOUR questions here!

- MyCrysis Team

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Introduction
It's now time for the response to Erik's questions set by you, the community.

So, you said that you like cooking... What meal is you specialty?

Creole Cuisine in general, the secret of cooking is to know your ingredients and blend them together like a painting, ever flavor and color at the right time.

Can you give some examples of what your work is? Working on marketing? Things like making commercials etc

Well, marketing is to prepare a product for a market, reach out to the customer and give the customer the feeling that the product is “need to have” item. Advertising means to tell the customer what the product is about and create even more of a sense of desire for the product.
I start out very unromantic and neutral by analyzing the market the core customers and the competition; then I take those ingredients and cook a fine marketing meal out of it.

And for desert, there’s the merchandising :)

But No, I don’t make commercials, I see to it that good agencies and Film production companies make then as good as it possibly gets.

As a producer, do you have any creative input or hands on creation of things in the game?

Yes; to a certain extent, but I try to keep it in the background.
My responsibility lies more in controlling quality and enabling artists and directors to achieve the quality. It’s a team effort and a producer tries to reduce the Ego.

How many months before releasing a game do you start working on the merchandizing and marketing stuff?

This is not bound to a date, you start planning and thinking about merchandising and marketing from the beginning on. It’s just not a huge load of stuff in the beginning of a game production, as the project grows and more elements of the game are being created and the story progresses you try to come up with ways and details to reveal and a timeframe in which this can happen. At some point of course if a release date is set, you start planning to this point.

Do you feel the original Crysis could have had more promotional material circulated?

I don’t think Crysis was short on promotion.
I was not involved in the project back then but I think the hype that was created was to focused on the technical superiority and the fact that you would need a new super computer to play it, well I had a two year old PC at that time, and it played Crysis fine, not on high spec but still looking better than any other game on the market, and most important, IT WAS F***ING AWESOME FUN

What's your favorite project you've worked on in the past?

Past – Present – Future

CRYSIS 2

Ever thought/were asked to participate in a horror movie?

YES, I was involved in a few SF and horror projects, the last time I got in contact with the genre I was asked to direct a Vampire film in France, but the production company didn’t pursue the project further. This happens a lot in the film industry.

Do you think sex sells? (even though Crytek have a sex-free history) [GTAIV 18+]

I know that Sex sells, but you need a franchise or a story that fits, or sometimes a product isn’t good enough and needs a sales boost. Crysis is a great game, it doesn’t need Sex to sell it.

Is that a question?
If it is, and I guess you just want to know when we release Crysis2
I honestly don’t know an exact date, we are trying to create the best game ever, and this, you can’t just nail to a date and yell it out to everybody, what if we think we need another month to make it even better, everybody would be disappointed by us not keeping the promised date, but no one recognizes the fact that we are doing this to give you fans out there an even better game, once we are certain to what date we can give you guys the best possible Crysis2, we will tell you.

What exactly does your job involve?

I can only give a few examples, since the job is rather organic in nature and it involves many things and sometime unexpected tasks are added.
I produce results, this means I create a framework in which a creative team can go about their creativity and doesn’t need to worry about anything other than creating. I oversee this process and jump in whenever there’s the need for anything the team needs help with.
And if I do my job right the team creates a great game, and if not it’s my fault, sometimes life isn’t fair, but that’s the way it is.

When working on design, whether it's sound or other, do you ever use a MAC? Or is your work strictly Windows PC based?

Basically everything is Windows based, even though some people including me also work on a MAC when necessary, but in a company the size of CRYTEK it is very important to have a consistent network. We have an awesome IT department, and they need to keep the network save and running, and that is much easier with everything on running Windows.

Are you going to officially support Windows 7 and fix some issues a fair deal of Windows 7 users have been dealing with?

I know Crysis2 will run on Windows 7, but I don’t know what issues you are talking about. I trust our R&D team to take care of these things; I am not involved in the software engineering part.

Do you listen to music when working?

I listen to music whenever I get the chance to do so, but I have to be in a lot of meeting every day, when I need an acoustic coffee in the morning my favorite wakeup call is a song called COMBUSTION by a Swedish band called MESHUGGAH.

If so what type/artist do you prefer to listen to when working?

Other than that I like to listen to internet radio, mostly a station called whisperings, solo piano music, to keep me calm.

A big thank you to Erik for answering so many questions as in depth as he has. Please check back next week for another Inside Crytek Article!

-MyCrysis Team

Brittany's Inside Crytek Article complete with Community Q & A

INFO:

Introduction

Today sees another addition to our "Inside Crytek" series. This is a series of Q&A's with different members of the Crytek team, where they answer questions on all sorts of topics. These are not just ordinary interviews though. Once their intro has been posted you get the opportunity to ask them your questions!

This time we are speaking with Brittany.

What do you do at Crytek?

I am the Talent Coordinator (Intern). Basically, I coordinate all the interviews for interested candidates. I serve as a liaison between the company and the candidate throughout their entire candidacy process. I handle them from initial interest to whether we hire them or not.

Why did you want to work in the games industry and how did you get started? Do you have any tips for people wanting to get started in the industry?

Well I actually don’t know much about Games, but it is definitely a very intriguing and interesting industry to be a part of. I perhaps don’t understand all the lingo yet, but it’s definitely not like anything else I’ve ever been a part of. It is unlike any other job or career, and you actually can have fun while working :). If I could give advice, it would be to set yourself apart – make yourself look different from the status quo and strive to reach your leadership potential.

Why Crytek?
Why not!? Crytek is only going to get bigger and bigger in terms of success. As an organization, I believe there will be great times to look forward to in our future. It is a fun atmosphere with great people, where else would anyone want to work?!

What are the best and worst parts of your job?
I love that I can see that my work matters. I am in contact with people outside of the company, as well as internally. I love that I can help people find answers, and I serve as an image of the company to our external audiences. However, my job requires a lot of waiting. I am constantly writing e-mails back and forth with candidates/recruiters/team leads, and sometimes I don’t get a quick response. But I love what I do, and I love meeting all the new people!

What are you working on at the minute?
Currently, I am continuing to set-up interviews, as well as coordinate start dates/contracts for new hires. In addition to that, I am also on the team that is developing an on-boarding program for our new employees so that they don’t feel so overwhelmed on their first day. I also am starting to learn how to edit our job openings on the website.

What types of games do you like, and what's your favorite game of all time?
Well, I grew up playing Mario, Yoshi, Donkey Kong. So, I guess I’m not really a “hunt and shoot” kind of girl, but I must say I’ve played an unannounced Crytek game and LOVED IT! I think it’s fun to experience something you normally wouldn’t do. My favorite game of all time probably is Golden Eye 007 on Nintendo 64 (I know...it’s old)

What do you enjoy doing when you're not at work?
Well, when I’m not Skyping with my boyfriend :), I love to go out for drinks or to a café. I am currently into “Gossip Girl” and “True Blood” so I have been downloading those shows (legally) and watching them! I love anything and everything that has to do with music…festivals/concerts/clubs, no matter the genre of music I will go! I also love anything that has to do with cultures and carnivals/festivals. In general, I just love to be around people!

It's up to you!
Now we've asked the questions, it's time for you to ask yours. Just go to this thread and post the questions you'd like to ask. Take advantage of the role the person does, and make sure to ask the right questions. Funny ones are always good, but nothing obscene. We'll pick out the best questions from the bunch and have the communities Q&A up once they're answered.

Introduction
It's now time for the response to Brittany's questions set by you, the community. Brittany joined us all the way from South Carolina, USA and currently holds the position of Talent Coordinator (Intern). Her responses can be found below and cover a wide range of topics such as being one of the few women around the office, where she sees Crytek in ten years, our relocation process as well as a few more!

Where do you come from? (Your name sounds French)
I am an American (from South Carolina). Leverette does sound French, but I actually think it is English. I have French and German ancestry, among other nationalities as well. I’m sort of a meshed combination of different cultures.

What is it like having to potentially deny someone a position?
The first few times I had to reject someone, I did feel a little remorse. No one likes to be the bearer of bad news. But then again, that is part of my job, so you just try to be as polite and courteous as possible.

Do you like your job?
I love my job. I like to meet all the different candidates that come in, and I love the feeling that what I am doing is actually helping individuals. I am a provider of information, and I like the feeling that I am able to give people answers. I still have a lot to learn, but I am definitely enjoying it!

Is Crytek a male dominated company?
Absolutely. I’d say there are probably a total of 20-30 women at the Crytek Frankfurt office (out of approx. 250-300 people). It is a very small ratio between women and men here. Most of the women in the Frankfurt office are either in Human Resources or Administration.

Where do you see Crytek in 10 years?
I definitely see Crytek being even more successful and much more well-known. I think we are going to become much more popular not only in the industry, but with different audiences. We are already quite successful, but I think we are currently getting a little taste of the success to come. I also think our CryEngine will be an extremely successful tool for us, as well as giving us the opportunity to produce relationships with other industries that might use it.

As you say you’re not familiar with the video-gaming lingo at the moment, does this make it difficult when interviewing candidates for the jobs?
Well, I don’t directly do the interviewing; I just contact the candidate and serve as a messenger between the candidate and the teams. But at times, yes, it is a little challenging to understand the teams’ needs in potential candidates. Since I am in contact with candidates about positions, sometimes the teams use the lingo in order to communicate to me the next steps with the candidate. But I simply just ask them what they mean, and we go on. However, over time, I really start to understand more and “get the hang of it” because I am constantly dealing with it on a daily basis. It’s never bad to ask if you don’t know!

Can you explain the “leadership potential "issue a little bit more? Preferably with an example?
Leadership potential to me is seizing an opportunity and not letting it pass you by because of fear. If you really feel you are good at something, then take a leap of faith and try to be the best you can in that field. For instance, if you know you are good at what you do, and an opportunity arises (i.e. relocating to another office/position, stepping in to a more challenging position, etc.) do not be afraid to pursue it. You will always regret what you wish you would have done. Your leadership potential is achieving the best for yourself, and allowing yourself to grow and learn, and to be the best you possibly can be.

Can you tell us more about the "onboarding program"? What kind of things do the newcomers do at this program?
Our On Boarding Program would consist of an introduction to Crytek, as well as information on the surrounding areas (Frankfurt). It serves as an Orientation for new employees, so that they don’t feel overwhelmed their first week of work. We want them to know what is expected of them in relation to their positions and responsibilities, yet also know the value of working for Crytek. We want to make it a fun, welcoming experience, not a scary, intimidating one. We are looking at offering SDK (Software Development Kit) classes to different departments (i.e. Animators, Programmers, etc.). This would cover everything from basics to know-how about complex tools. So, in general, it is a range of information for new employees – from explanations about health coverage to specifics for their particular team.

Do you have problems with candidates who have to relocate from different countries or towns?
I wouldn’t say there are problems :), just complications. Sometimes we do get strange questions of what kinds of items employees want to move over here. Some countries are much more difficult in acquiring a German work visa, but no matter the circumstance we make it happen smoothly for our new employees.

Do you decide what kind of job postings will be posted on the Crytek site?
I speak with the different teams and find out which positions they need to fill. Then, I get a job description from them on that particular position and post it on the site. So all in all, I ask them and they send me the necessary information directly.